Born into a family of educated people, Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich understood from childhood that politics is a serious matter. My father, a writer, was repressed under Stalin; he spent about 20 years in a camp. Even then Shushkevich will dream of living in another country, with different rules.

Young Stanislav wanted to be a mathematician and scientist. To do this, I entered BSU and even made myself some kind of profession in the academic environment. Professorial degree, Institute of Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences - serious matters. At one time he rose to the rank of vice-rector of BSU for scientific work. But work in the CPSU did its job. He became a member of the party in 1968.

Despite the fact that Shushkevich was not an active communist, his political career was much faster than his scientific one. Thus, many years of lecturing on nuclear physics (including at international universities) made him a person devoted to science and the educational sphere. He became a people's deputy of the USSR only in 1989. And two years later he signed the Belovezhskaya Accords...

On September 9, 1991, Shushkevich was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus. He was one of the first to condemn the putsch, one of the few to speak out against the continued existence of the USSR. In December 1991, together with Yeltsin and Kravchuk, he signed agreements on the termination of the existence of the USSR. Later, he assessed them ambiguously, calling the presidents of independent republics either great people or indulging in nostalgia for the times of the BSSR.

Of course, these statements are not born out of nowhere. Lukashenko came to power in 1994, and he did this by compromising Shushkevich. The ambitious Lukashenko created a commission, as a result of which, in January 1994, Shushkevich was removed from the post of chairman of the Supreme Council; and in the elections in June of the same year, Stanislav Stanislavovich took only fourth place, not making it to the second round.

The resentment against Lukashenko haunts Shushkevich even now. It would seem that a 78-year-old professor could calmly lecture at his native Belarusian State University! But no. Shushkevich today is the leader of the Hramada party, an active oppositionist and critic of the president. All of Shushkevich’s activities are now focused on this, and it seems he is not going to stop.

This is how the man who created free Belarus himself suffered from this. Next year will be 20 years of uninterrupted rule of Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko. And many Belarusians are against this. Will they unite around Shushkevich? Or will it be another politician? Time will put everything in its place. Today Stanislav Shushkevich is still the same politician, but no longer plays a big role within the country. The old professor is more popular among foreign physicist colleagues than among his native citizens - residents of Belarus.

Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1970), Professor (1973), Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1991).

Biography

Born on December 15, 1934 in Minsk. Parents are teachers and come from peasant backgrounds. Father is a writer; he was repressed in the 1930s and released in 1956.

In 1951 he graduated from school, in 1956 - from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Belarusian state university(BSU), in 1959 - graduate school at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Belarusian SSR.

Specialist in the field of radio electronics.

Topic of doctoral dissertation: “Information parameters of signals.”

1959 - junior researcher at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR

In June 1994, he took part in the presidential elections, received about 10% in the first round and did not make it to the second round (Alexander Lukashenko won in the second round).

Signed a statement to the Constitutional Court of Belarus about the impeachment of President Lukashenko. He did not recognize the results of the November (1996) referendum on amending the Belarusian Constitution and refused to enter the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, formed on the basis of the results of the referendum.

Active figure in the Belarusian opposition. Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Community party? (since 1998). In 2007, Lech Walesa nominated Szushkevich for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Awards

• Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Belarusian SSR (1982).
• Laureate of the USSR Council of Ministers Prize
• Laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR
• Laureate of the International Ukrainian Pylyp Orlyk Prize (1997)
• Laureate of the International Polish Jan Nowak Jozeranski Prize
• Commander of the Order of Vytautas the Great (Lithuania, 2010) - for active support of Lithuanian independence in 1991.

) - Belarusian statesman and political figure, physicist scientist, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus (1991-1994), Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1990), People's Deputy of the USSR (1989-1991), Deputy of the Supreme Council of Belarus (1990-1995) , Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of Belarus; author of works in the field of electronic equipment for physical research.

Stanislav Shushkevich was born into a family of teachers who came from peasant backgrounds. His father became a writer, was repressed in the 1930s, and was released from prison in 1956. Stanislav graduated from school (1951), the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Belarusian University (1956), graduate school at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus (1959), and became a specialist in the field of radio electronics. After graduating from graduate school, he worked as an engineer in the design bureau of the Minsk Radio Plant (1960-1961), then in the scientific laboratory of the Belarusian University (1961-1967), and became the head of the laboratory. In 1967 S.S. Shushkevich was appointed vice-rector for scientific work of the Minsk Radio Engineering Institute, and in 1968 he was admitted to the CPSU. In 1969, he returned to the Belarusian University and became an assistant professor in the department of nuclear physics. In 1970, Shushkevich became a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, defending his dissertation on the topic “Information parameters of signals.” In 1973 he became a professor; headed the department of nuclear physics. Since 1986 S.S. Shushkevich worked as vice-rector of the Belarusian University.

In 1989, he was elected people's deputy of the USSR and became a member of the Interregional Deputy Group. In 1990, Shushkevich was elected to the Supreme Council of Belarus and took the position of first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus. In August 1991, he spoke out against the State Emergency Committee, signed a statement condemning it, and on September 9, 1991, he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus.

On December 7-8, 1991, Stanislav Shushkevich, together with Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kravchuk, decided to liquidate the USSR, and, as the head of the Belarusian state, signed the Belovezhskaya Accords. He headed Belarus for three years and on January 26, 1994, he was removed from the post of chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus based on the results of the work of a parliamentary commission headed by Alexander Lukashenko. In June 1994, Shushkevich took part in the presidential elections, received about 10% in the first round and did not make it to the second round, in which A.G. won. Lukashenko. Subsequently S.S. Shushkevich was in opposition to the policies of President Lukashenko and tried to organize his impeachment. In 1998, he headed the Belarusian Social Democratic Community party.

Since 1971 - Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics at BSU.

In 1972 he received the title of professor.

In 1982 he received the title of Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the BSSR.

In May 1985, for a set of works on the creation and introduction into the national economy of radioscopic express methods for measuring the concentration of rare earth elements, S. S. Shushkevich, together with the staff of the department, was awarded the title of Laureate of the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR; in 1988, together with associate professor M.K. Efimchik, received the State Prize of the BSSR for the textbook “Fundamentals of Radio Electronics” for physics faculties of the USSR.

In 1986-1990, S.S. Shushkevich, while continuing to head the department, worked as vice-rector for scientific work at BSU.

In 1991, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.

Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich trained 33 candidates of physical and mathematical sciences, he was the supervisor of 5 doctoral dissertations.

He was invited to give lectures at universities in the GDR (Jena - 1976, 1978), Yugoslavia (Ljubljana - 1966), Poland (Jagiellonian - 1974, 1994, 1997), USA (Harvard - 2000; Yale - 2001; Columbia - 2001). In 1999-2000 he worked at the Woodrow Wilson Research Center in Washington.

The beginning of socio-political and government activities (1986-1991)

The beginning of opposition activities

Participation in the parliamentary elections of 1989 and 1990

In 1989, the general meeting of the BSU nominated him as a candidate for people's deputies of the USSR and won the elections. The policy of the communist leadership regarding the Chernobyl disaster was one of the reasons for his participation in the elections. He was a member of the Interregional Deputy Group.

In 1990, he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme Council of the Belarusian SSR. On November 24, 1990, he became the coordinator of the Democratic Stream deputy group in the Supreme Council of the BSSR (along with Valentin Golubev, Oleg Trusov, Evgeny Tsumarev). In total, this group included approximately 100 deputies. Later, the “Democratic Club” was created from it, headed by Shushkevich.

The most influential parliamentary factions in the Supreme Council were the “Party Group” (since 1992 - the “Belarus” faction), which included approximately 150 people’s deputies and united party and economic workers, and the “Opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front” (the leader of the faction was Zenon Poznyak), which by the end of the term of this parliament included 27 people's deputies.

On May 18, 1990, he participated in the elections for the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council along with the Secretary of the CPB Central Committee for Agriculture Nikolai Dementey and Hero Soviet Union, USSR pilot-cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalenok. In the first round, none of the candidates received the required number of votes: out of 323 ballots, 161 were cast for Dementey, 101 for Shushkevich, and 47 for Kovalenok. In the second round (320 deputies voted), Dementey won (167 votes), while Shushkevich received 118 votes. On May 19, 1990, Shushkevich was elected to the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council.

Acting Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus of the XII convocation (1991)

On August 19-21, 1991, the August putsch took place in Moscow, when a number of high-ranking officials of the Soviet leadership tried to organize a coup d'etat. With the beginning of the putsch, Shushkevich demanded an urgent convening of the Presidium of the Supreme Council and an extraordinary session. However, the leadership of the Supreme Council did not want to declare the actions of the putschists illegal, which actually meant supporting their actions. In this situation, Shushkevich and the leader of the parliamentary opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front, Zenon Poznyak, began collecting signatures among deputies for convening an extraordinary session of the Supreme Council.

On August 24-25, 1991, the extraordinary 5th session of the Supreme Council was held. On August 25, 1991, after the failure of the State Emergency Committee putsch, Dementey was forced to resign as speaker of parliament. After Dementey's resignation, Shushkevich becomes acting Chairman of the Supreme Council. The most important legislative act adopted by the parliament at this session was the law “On giving the status of a constitutional law to the Declaration of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus on the state sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus”.

Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus of the XII convocation (1991-1994)

Election as Speaker of Parliament

On September 17, 1991, during the extraordinary 6th session, the following candidates were nominated for the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council: Vladimir Zablotsky (member of the parliamentary commission on economic reform, achieving economic independence and sovereignty), Gennady Karpenko (chairman of the parliamentary commission on science and scientific-technical progress), Vyacheslav Kebich (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus), Stanislav Shushkevich. According to the voting results, Kebich and Shushkevich advanced to the second round. In the second round, none of them won due to a lack of quorum, although Shushkevich was ahead of his competitor, receiving 157 votes (140 deputies voted for Kebich). The next day, September 18, 1991, Kebich recused himself and supported Shushkevich. An alternative to Shushkevich was drawn up by Leonid Kozik (Chairman of the Commission on Economic Reform, Achieving Economic Independence and Sovereignty). As a result of the vote, Shushkevich took the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council.

The most important legislative acts adopted at the 6th session of the Supreme Council - laws “On the name of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and amendments to the Declaration of the Supreme Council of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic on the state sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Belarusian SSR”, “On state emblem of the Republic of Belarus" and "On the state flag of the Republic of Belarus".

Signing of the Bialowieza Agreement

On December 7-8, 1991, he took part in a meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Viskuli) with the Presidents of Russia Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk, where a decision was made to liquidate the USSR and create the CIS. As head of the republic, he signed the Belovezhskaya Agreement. On December 10, 1991, resolutions of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus “On the ratification of the Agreement on the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States” and “On the denunciation of the 1922 Treaty on the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics” were adopted.

The place of parliament in the political system of the Republic of Belarus

The period of 1991-1994 in the process of transformation of the political system of the Republic of Belarus can be described as “a period of struggle for power and for the choice of the type of power.” This stage began with the fact that the conservative majority of the Belarusian parliament, after the failure August putsch In 1991, decisions began to be made under pressure from the small opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front. The decisions taken include the suspension of the activities of the PBC and the confiscation of its property. This not only radically changed the political situation, but also contributed to the destruction of the previous system government controlled. Under these conditions, the problem of choosing a form of government and the structure of state power has become especially urgent.

According to the Belarusian political scientist Vasily Bushchik, “the indecisiveness of the head of state, his fear of taking responsibility, which was covered by references to lack of authority, led to the fact that, first in a hidden form, and then in an open form, a confrontation began between the legislative and executive branches of government and first of all their leaders." In this situation, with the support of the largest parliamentary faction “Belarus” and several small parliamentary associations gravitating towards it (veterans, disabled people, etc.), real power began to be concentrated in the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, headed by Vyacheslav Kebich. It was in the government that key decisions were made, which were then carried out among deputies by the pro-government lobby in parliament. Belarusian political scientist Viktor Chernov characterizes the form of government in Belarus in 1991-1994 as a quasi-parliamentary, premier republic.

Distribution of political forces in parliament

Polish political scientist Rafal Czahor identifies two stages in the political life of Belarus from May 1990 to December 1991.

The first stage, which lasted until August 1991, was characterized by a qualitative change in political life in the republic in the form of providing opposition politicians with the opportunity to enter the republican parliament through democratic elections. In total, the opposition made up 10% of the total composition of the deputy corps in the Supreme Council, which meant de facto the entry of Belarus into the initial phase of systemic reforms. At the same time, two political forces were the most noticeable in the Belarusian parliament: the nomenklatura, which sought to maintain the status quo and opposed reforms, and the national democratic opposition, represented by the Belarusian Popular Front. By mid-1991, Belarusian political life had developed a model in which the nomenklatura exercised power and the opposition focused on criticism, with particular attention to issues related to the revival of national life. The polarization of both forces was so significant that compromise between them was impossible, thereby contributing to the inertia of the political system.

The second stage began with the defeat of the GKChP putsch, the resignation of Nikolai Dementey from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council and the temporary weakening of the positions of the communists. Under these conditions, Stanislav Shushkevich, elected to the post of speaker of parliament through a compromise between communists and democrats, became the third major subject on the Belarusian political scene. The election of Shushkevich and the implementation of some significant demands of the BPF on the national issue meant that the opposition forces took on part of the responsibility for the political and economic situation in the country. A compromise between the nomenklatura and the national democrats could arise due to the different priorities of both forces: the nomenklatura focused on maintaining power and control over the economy, the BPF on issues related to the revival of the Belarusian language and culture.

During 1991-1994, political life in Belarus was focused on issues of national and state building. In the course of resolving these issues, two visions collided: nomenklatura and national, emphasizing the value of sovereignty, the need to ensure independence from Russia, Belarusization and the restoration of national identity. Attitudes to the national question, history and language divided participants in political life according to their affiliation with the ex-party nomenklatura and the opposition.

Shushkevich’s political base was connected mainly with the parliamentary “Democratic Club”, and then with the faction of the Belarusian Socialist Party. democratic party“Gromada” (it included about a dozen deputies). However, these parliamentary associations did not have serious political influence. In the conditions of transforming Belarusian political life in the face of polarization of its two main entities, there was no political center that would support the speaker of parliament. As a result, Shushkevich was not a very strong figure in Belarusian political life in 1991-1994. His strength lay solely in the fact that he held the position of head of state. Political activity The Chairmanship of the Supreme Council was based on the search for a compromise, taking into account the interests of the ruling elite with some of the demands of the democratic opposition. His activities corresponded to the intentions of the nomenklatura, which assumed that the formal entry into power of a representative of the opposition would not have a negative impact on the implementation of its interests. The parliamentary majority, which agreed to elect Shushkevich to the post of speaker of parliament, believed that in return it had the right to demand loyalty and gratitude from him. In practice, Shushkevich, as head of state, was guided by the principle of balance and taking into account the interests of the two most important active political forces, which ultimately made him an opponent of the parliamentary ex-communist majority in 1993-1994. The above trait was seen as a political weakness. In fact, developing a compromise (most important achievement was the adoption of a new Constitution in 1994, developed mainly by the Constitutional Commission headed by Shushkevich) was largely due to his ability to harmonize completely different concepts of development.

Stanislav Shushkevich's untapped political potential is evidenced by his significant popularity in society, which contrasts with the trust in Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich and BPF Chairman Zenon Poznyak (see Table 1).

Table 1. Dynamics of social support for individual Belarusian politicians in 1991-1993. (V%)

Relations with the nomenklatura and the opposition in parliament

With the suppression of the August 1991 putsch, power in Belarus continued to remain in the hands of the nomenklatura. After the collapse of the USSR, the Belarusian ruling elite was at a loss. She lacked experience in independent political and economic activities, as well as a clear program for the development of the country in conditions of independence. The national-state idea was considered useful for strengthening power, but the Belarusian leadership, the most denationalized among the post-communist elites, was not ready to take advantage of this idea. It saw a way out of this situation not in the implementation of democratic, market reforms, in Belarus’ search for its location in the new geopolitical reality, but in the restoration of previous economic ties and a close economic union with Russia. Since 1991, the Belarusian nomenklatura began to carry out reforms to the extent that this corresponded to its interests. She adapted the reform processes to her economic and political needs. According to the memoirs of Vyacheslav Kebich, with his election to the post of speaker of parliament, “having dubbed the leaders of enterprises and collective farms “red directors” and “red landowners,” Stanislav Shushkevich alienated them forever.”

Shortly after resigning from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council, Shushkevich described his interaction with the parliamentary majority as follows:

“I do not fit the majority of this parliament. It does not want to build a new society; most of the current deputies want to return to the old one. I still don’t understand how I even managed to become the head of the Supreme Council. The communist majority had a fantastic fright in August 1991, and my election became a “great accident” and not a pattern.”

According to his ideological views, Shushkevich can be considered a moderate nationalist, and his position on the Belarusian national-cultural revival was identical to the position of the parliamentary opposition BPF. Disagreements between the speaker and the opposition concerned the pace of political and economic transformation in Belarus.

With the achievement of state independence by Belarus, the parliamentary opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front demanded that the parliamentary majority of the Supreme Council adopt laws on the national currency and financial and credit system, the national army, the customs system and borders, and international relations at the embassy level. In addition, the BPF advocated the abolition of councils and the transition to a municipal system of government, economic reform on a market basis, and the revival of national culture and national identity. However, the Belarusian parliament was slow in creating the appropriate legal framework.

Zenon Poznyak, characterizing a number of representatives of the Belarusian leadership of the early 1990s, including Shushkevich, argues that they “were formed in the communist system, under the pressure of circumstances they left it, but never said goodbye to its habits and psychology, they remained alone one foot in Minsk, the other in Moscow."

Shushkevich's differences with the opposition were caused, in particular, by the issue of Belarus achieving independence. On May 21, 1991, Shushkevich did not support Zenon Poznyak’s proposal to give the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the BSSR of July 27, 1990 the status of a constitutional law. Until the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreement, Shushkevich was an active participant in the Novoogaryovsky process, which provided for the conclusion of a new union treaty. In June 1991, he spoke about this in this way: “The Belarusian Popular Front never liked that I was for a fair Union. You are for us to be independent. I almost think it's a joke. I was and remain a supporter of the Union, and I especially emphasize a fair Union.”

On December 5, 1991, on the eve of the signing of the Belovezhskaya Agreement, Shushkevich met with the BPF opposition in her office. At the same time, the opposition tried to convince the speaker of parliament of the need to introduce a national currency and create a Belarusian army. However, Shushkevich did not want to come up with such an initiative and advised the opposition to first contact the relevant commissions of the Supreme Council. The disagreements between Shushkevich and the Belarusian Popular Front are evidenced by excerpts from the minutes of that meeting regarding the upcoming meeting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha of the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine:

Valentin Golubev: “Independence. We don’t know your position regarding the future of Belarus. You said that you are in favor of signing an economic agreement. They stated that they would not sign a political document, but now they are doing it. We don’t see any advantages for Belarus..."

Zenon Poznyak: “Impression from your activities: ignoring these factors leads to a loss of sovereignty and an economic crisis. A politician must have support. You have developed before our eyes. You cannot rely on either the Front or the CPSU. You rely on the policies of Yeltsin and Gorbachev. We are on the verge of losing our sovereignty.”

Stanislav Shushkevich: “We have a long way to go to achieve a policy that the state can pursue...”

In 1992, contrary to the expectations of the BPF opposition, Shushkevich made every effort to ensure that the referendum on early elections to the Supreme Council did not take place. The opposition did not forgive the speaker for disrupting the referendum, but was forced to support him, if only because the head of state strongly opposed Belarus’ entry into the collective security system of the CIS countries. Therefore, when a real threat of a vote of no confidence hung over Shushkevich in the summer of 1993, the BPF faction strenuously defended the Chairman of the Supreme Council. The opposition caused confusion in the ranks of Shushkevich's opponents, thanks to which he remained in his post. A significant role was also played by the fact that members of the Counting Commission Alexander Shut and Igor Germenchuk refused to sign the final protocol, citing a number of procedural violations. In January 1994, during the re-raisal of the question of trust in the Chairman of the Supreme Council in the Belarusian parliament, the opposition again came to the defense of Shushkevich, but unsuccessfully.

Initiation of the referendum in the Republic of Belarus in 1992 and Shushkevich’s position

At the extraordinary 8th session of the Supreme Council, which began its work a week after the ratification of the Belovezhsky Agreement, the parliamentary opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front introduced a number of bills, including “On elections to the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus”, “On the constitutional reform of the work of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus”, “On the creation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus and military issues”, “On the prohibition of political organizations, structures and groups based on anti-human views and teachings”, “On the Control Chamber under the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus”. However, all proposals of the BPF, except for the issue of the Control Chamber, were rejected by the parliamentary majority.

In connection with the blocking of their bills, the parliamentary opposition issued a statement in which they claimed that at the 8th session “the last chance to improve the work of the incompetent Supreme Council by reforming it was discarded. The Belarusian Popular Front opposition now sees the only way out of the hopeless impasse of power - this is an all-Belarusian referendum, at which it is necessary to raise questions about the resignation of the government and about trust in the Supreme Council.”

On February 13, 1992, the Central Commission for Referendum of the Republic of Belarus registered the question of the Initiative Group for holding a referendum on early elections to the Supreme Council: “Do you consider it necessary to hold elections to the highest body of state power of the Republic of Belarus in the fall of 1992 on the basis of the law “On elections of people's deputies of the Republic” Belarus,” the draft of which was introduced by the BPF opposition in the Supreme Council, and in connection with this, the early dissolution of the current Supreme Council?” and gave permission to collect signatures.

On April 13, 1992, the Initiative Group transferred 442,032 signatures of citizens in support of the referendum to the Central Commission.

On May 11, 1992, the Conclusion on the results of the verification of the referendum signature sheets submitted by the Referendum Initiative Group to the Central Referendum Commission of the Republic of Belarus was published. According to this document, 62,283 signatures were excluded from the total number of collected signatures as collected or executed with various deviations from the requirements of the Law “On Popular Voting (Referendum) in the Republic of Belarus.” However, the Initiative Group fulfilled the legal requirement, according to which at least 350 thousand signatures of citizens are required to initiate a referendum. The Central Commission sent the final act of the Initiative Group on the Referendum to the Presidium of the Supreme Council. However, by decision of parliament, consideration of the referendum issue was postponed to the autumn of 1992.

The issue of a referendum was considered in the Supreme Council during the 10th session. On October 29, 1992, only 35 people voted for the draft resolution on holding a referendum on December 6, 1992, proposed by the Belarusian Popular Front deputy group. The draft resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on abandoning the referendum was supported by 202 people's deputies.

In order to give greater legitimacy to the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Council to abandon the referendum, on October 29, 1992, the Supreme Council adopted two resolutions at once: “On the proposal of a group of citizens of the Republic of Belarus to hold a republican referendum” and “On the Statement of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus “On the need to accelerate constitutional reforms” in the Republic of Belarus".

Legislative activity: general characteristics

During the period when Shushkevich took the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council, the foundations of the national and state building of the Republic of Belarus were laid.

On November 3, 1992, the Belarusian parliament adopted the Laws “On Defense” and “On the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus”. On November 4, 1992, the Law “On the State Border of the Republic of Belarus” was approved.

In addition, under the leadership of Shushkevich, the parliament adopted important laws in the field of cultural and social life of the country: “On National Minorities in the Republic of Belarus” dated November 11, 1992, “On the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage” dated November 13, 1992, “On Freedom of Conscience” and religious organizations" dated December 17, 1992.

In the economic sphere, the Supreme Council approved such laws as “On the privatization of state property and the transformation of state unitary enterprises into open joint-stock companies” dated January 19, 1993, “On the right of ownership of land” dated June 16, 1993, “On personalized privatization checks of the Republic of Belarus " dated July 6, 1993.

Also, Shushkevich’s period in power is associated with the entry of independent Belarus into the international arena. On April 24, 1992, the parliament adopted resolutions “On the membership of the Republic of Belarus in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development” and “On the membership of the Republic of Belarus in the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the International Development Association and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency” . On January 4, 1992, the Supreme Council approved the resolution “On the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of July 1, 1968”, on June 3, 1992 - “On the procedure for the succession of the Republic of Belarus in relation to international treaties of the former USSR”, on October 21, 1992 - “On the ratification of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990 and the Agreement on the principles and procedure for the implementation of this Treaty of May 15, 1992.”

In general, during the period of its activity, the Supreme Council of the 12th convocation (1990-1995) adopted about 500 legislative acts. It is significant that the same number was adopted by the Supreme Councils of the BSSR from the beginning of their functioning in 1938 until 1990.

According to the Belarusian legal scholar Grigory Vasilevich, “the main directions of improving legislation and updating it in the early 90s were the provision, development of new economic relations, structural restructuring of government bodies, strengthening guarantees, rights and legitimate interests of citizens.”

A general assessment of the legislative activity of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus in the early 1990s was given by Shushkevich in his election program “Statehood, democracy, market - the path to prosperity,” published in the Belarusian periodicals on the eve of the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus in 1994. The program, in particular, stated that after the adoption of the laws “On Property in the BSSR” dated December 11, 1990, “On Enterprises” dated December 14, 1990, “On Banks and Banking Activity” dated December 14, 1990, “On Entrepreneurship” in the BSSR" dated May 28, 1991, "On foreign investments in the territory of the Republic of Belarus" dated November 14, 1991, for a full transition to a market economy, it was necessary to carry out popular privatization and stabilization of the Belarusian monetary system. In Shushkevich's opinion, the slow transition to new economic relations was caused by the disinterest of the ruling nomenklatura in carrying out reforms. “Most of them are not able to work in a new way, do not want to earn a living through hard work, like simple people, that’s why she rebelled against reforms,” the program stated.

The process of development and adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus of 1994

In the period from October 29, 1992 to January 26, 1994, Shushkevich headed the Constitutional Commission of the Supreme Council. The commission itself was created in June 1991 and was initially headed by Nikolai Dementey. The purpose of its activities was the development of a new Basic Law.

During the period of the commission's work, three drafts of the new Constitution were published in the Belarusian press: in December 1991, August 1992 and September 1993.

The most pressing issue in the process of adopting the new Basic Law of the Republic of Belarus was the issue of introducing the institution of presidency. The 1991 Constitutional Draft provided that the President is both the head of state and the executive branch. However, the 1992 draft clearly established the position that the President is only the head of state. In turn, the authors of the 1993 project returned to the idea of ​​a “strong” President, giving him the functions of head of state and executive power. Shushkevich, in turn, advocated the introduction of a “weak” President, who would only be the head of state and would carry out only representative functions.

On February 5, 1993, the Supreme Council adopted a resolution “On the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Belarus,” which provided for an article-by-article consideration of the new Constitution at the spring session of the Supreme Council in 1993.

The article-by-article discussion took place in two stages: from May 19 to May 27, 1993 and from November 30 to December 1, 1993.

At the first stage, 109 articles were reviewed and 62 articles were fully approved, the preamble and 22 articles were partially approved. The names of the sections were also approved: “Fundamentals of the constitutional system”, “Personality, society and the state”, “Electoral system, referendum”, “Legislative, executive and judicial power”, “Financial system”, “The operation of the Constitution and the procedure for changing it”.

At the second stage, 26 articles of the project were approved. As a result, the number of articles increased to 88. The titles of the remaining sections and leaders, as well as the preamble, were also adopted. The title of one section was not approved - about the President.

On January 26, 1994, Shushkevich was dismissed from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council, after which this position was taken by Mieczyslaw Grib on January 28, 1994. On February 1, 1994, Grib became the head of the Constitutional Commission. The remaining provisions of the constitutional draft were approved by the Belarusian parliament during February-March 1994. The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus was adopted on March 15, 1994 by 236 votes of people's deputies with a quorum of 231 people.

The process of developing and adopting a new Constitution was slowed down for a number of reasons. These include the lack of independent experience in developing such documents at that time. During the existence of the USSR, draft legislative acts were developed either in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus or in Moscow. In addition, political reasons also had a negative impact on the constitutional process. Elected in relatively democratic elections, the Supreme Council of the 12th convocation was not a classical parliament. It was dominated by deputies, many of whom, being members of the Constitutional Commission, held diametrically opposed views on political system Belarus.

Foreign policy of Shushkevich

In the early 1990s, the main directions of the foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus were: strengthening real sovereignty and independence, cooperation with the CIS countries, establishing good neighborly relations with neighboring countries, transforming Belarus into a nuclear-free and neutral state, “returning to Europe” and developing ties with countries West, international assistance in eliminating the results of the Chernobyl accident.

Shushkevich approached the solution to the military issue in the context of constitutional requirements to transform Belarus into a nuclear-free zone and a neutral country. He believed that the Republic of Belarus should only temporarily remain in the bloc system and retain nuclear weapon. The ultimate goal of Belarus, in his opinion, was integration into a nuclear-free Europe, neutrality, and participation in collective security within the UN.

By the mid-1990s, special results in the foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus were achieved in the field of nuclear disarmament and arms control. As a legacy from the USSR, Belarus received the largest concentration of military personnel in the world: 1 military man for every 43 civilians. In accordance with the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which Belarus joined in 1992, the country has destroyed 10% of the weapons and equipment eliminated by all 30 CFE states. Also in 1992, tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn from the country. In 1993, the Belarusian parliament ratified the Strategic Offensive Arms Treaty (START-1) and the 1992 Lisbon Protocol, which provided for Belarus' accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a nuclear-weapon-free state. In November 1996, strategic nuclear weapons were removed from the territory of Belarus, and thus it became a nuclear-free state. The consistent policy of the Republic of Belarus in the field of nuclear disarmament has received high international recognition.

During Shushkevich’s visit to the United States, the “Joint Declaration on Relations between the United States of America and the Republic of Belarus” was adopted. In accordance with the text of the declaration, the United States expressed full support for the Republic of Belarus in its intention to achieve permanent neutral status and pursue a foreign policy of neutrality. In addition, according to the document, the Republic of Belarus confirmed its readiness to build a market economy through structural reforms and create conditions for investors to modernize and rebuild its economy. In turn, the United States promised the Republic of Belarus assistance in economic stabilization, privatization, reorganization, free trade and foreign investment.

At the invitation of Stanislav Shushkevich, Bill Clinton visited Minsk on January 15, 1994 on an official visit. During the meeting American President expressed high appreciation of the United States for the leading role of Belarus in the field of disarmament. Clinton also expressed support for accelerated economic reform in Belarus, which would facilitate greater bilateral and international assistance.

In 1991-1994, the mechanisms for the development, adoption and implementation of the foreign policy of the Republic of Belarus were concentrated in the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers.

Minsk, having proclaimed a course towards neutrality and a nuclear-free status, attempted to find new foreign policy priorities. Without abandoning the strategic course for comprehensive cooperation with Russia and with the rest of the CIS countries, the Belarusian leadership, primarily Stanislav Shushkevich, was looking for a way for a new location of Belarus on the political map of Europe as a place between East and West. Stanislav Shushkevich and Foreign Minister Pyotr Kravchenko were alone in their desire to weaken the economic, political and military dependence of Belarus on Russia and at the same time strengthen political and trade relations with the countries of Central and Western Europe and USA.

On April 9, 1993, during a speech at the extraordinary 11th session of the Supreme Council, Shushkevich expressed his understanding of the geopolitical position that Belarus should occupy:

“In the field of foreign policy - strengthening the independence of the state, capable of taking its rightful place in the world community. The models of our state may be different. This may be a closed national-ethnic state, reborn only on the values ​​of previous generations. This could be a Slavic choice: the Moscow-Kyiv-Minsk triangle or the Minsk-Moscow axis. I am a supporter of the third option: a neutral, politically stable state that does not clearly put forward either eastern or western priorities, and in its economic and political strategy strives to be a contact state, a source of stability in the region.

Today we have clearly identified an eastern priority, and we must perceive this as a reality. We must support and develop it, but it should not stop other contacts, including contacts with the West.”

Shushkevich’s course towards an active foreign policy in the East and West was opposed by the line of the Kebich government and the parliamentary majority towards “restoring broken economic ties” with Russia and other countries former USSR and the entry of the Republic of Belarus into the CIS collective security system. As the socio-economic crisis worsened, voices were increasingly heard among the ruling elite of Belarus about the impossibility of normal, full-fledged development of the country without Russia.

Procedure for resignation from the post of Speaker of Parliament

Shushkevich’s negative position on the accession of the Republic of Belarus to the Collective Security Treaty of the CIS countries sharply undermined his position in the Supreme Council. Representatives of the parliamentary majority, primarily the pro-government Belarus faction, began to openly demand the resignation of the speaker.

The first attempt by people's deputies to remove Shushkevich from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council took place at the end of June - beginning of July 1993. On July 1, 1993, a secret vote took place on the question “Do you trust the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus S.S. Shushkevich? Yes? No?" 166 people voted for no confidence in the speaker, and only 27 for confidence. Despite the fact that only eight votes were missing to make a decision, this actually meant Shushkevich’s political defeat.

On December 14, 1993, during the parliamentary session, the chairman of the temporary commission of the Supreme Council to study the activities of commercial structures under government and administrative bodies, Alexander Lukashenko, made a report. He accused almost all high-ranking officials of the state, in particular Shushkevich and Kebich, of involvement in illegal activities. The speaker was accused of underpayment for repairs carried out by a government construction organization. However, Shushkevich was on a visit to Tashkent at that time, so he was not present at the report. However, people's deputies only needed a reason to dismiss the speaker.

On January 15, 1994, Lithuanian special services officers arrested on the territory of Belarus two major leaders of the Communist Party of Lithuania - Mikolas Burokevičius and Juozas Ermalavičius, who were involved in organizing the events in Lithuania in January 1991. With the full connivance of the Belarusian law enforcement agencies and border guards, both Lithuanians were freely transported through the Kamenny Log checkpoint. In this regard, the Supreme Council organized a procedure for personal voting on confidence in officials: the Prosecutor General, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Chairman of the KGB. According to the results of a personal vote on January 25, 1994, the Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Egorov and the Chairman of the KGB Eduard Shirkovsky were dismissed. However, they spoke out for distrust of Vasily Sholodonov minimal amount deputies

Subsequently, a group of people's deputies, led by Pyotr Prokopovich, collected 100 signatures of parliamentarians (Kebich's supporters) to prepare a draft resolution on the recall of the speaker. Under the influence of people's deputies Alexander Lukashenko, Viktor Gonchar and Dmitry Bulakhov, the draft resolution included the following on the agenda: the recall of S. S. Shushkevich and the dismissal of V. F. Kebich. The project was adopted with a minimal margin: 179 - “for” with a quorum of 174.

On the evening of January 26, 1994, the results of the secret ballot became known. 101 people's deputies voted for Kebich's resignation, 175 were against. In turn, 209 people's deputies voted for the recall of Shushkevich, and only 36 were against.

Vasily Leonov, deputy of the Supreme Council of the XII convocation and Minister of Agriculture in 1994-1997, recalls the following about the resignation of the speaker:

“I remember that session when Stanislav Shushkevich was removed from his post as head of parliament. They removed him not only because, with his connivance, the Lithuanian secret services handed over the Lithuanian orthodox communists who had found shelter in Belarus. I'm tired of his denials and constant refusals to exercise authority. They told him: “Okay, Kebich doesn’t want it - so come on, you offer it!” But he didn’t offer anything either. And the extradition of the communists became a detonating event, provoking a parliamentary explosion. I don't want to say that this was some kind of conspiracy. For example, no one persuaded or agitated me to vote against Shushkevich. And many other deputies with whom I had to talk about this topic both then and later. It’s just that fatigue and irritation have accumulated. Shushkevich, Kebich, Prosecutor General Vasily Sholodonov, KGB Chairman Eduard Shirkovsky, Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Yegorov actually began to drown each other in their speeches, including, of course, Shushkevich. They contradicted each other, and this added even more fuel to the fire. But no one thought that this quarrel would lead to the immediate resignation of the highest official of the state. This is evidenced by the fact that the parliamentary majority did not even have a well-thought-out and agreed upon candidacy to replace Shushkevich. Only later did someone come up with the name Mieczysław Grib.”

Reasons for resignation

According to the Belarusian historian Alexander Kuryanovich, “S. S. Shushkevich’s resignation was due to his controversial activities, the idealization of political compromise in cases where decisiveness and even toughness were required. The absence of a distinct ideological and political personality is the main reason for the fall of S.S. Shushkevich.”

In the opinion of Vasily Leonov, “Shushkevich did not fully understand his role. He held the position of head of state, and as head of state he was responsible for everything and everyone. He said nonsense that was discriminatory both to the state and to him personally, such as answering a woman who didn’t know what to feed her five children: “You gave birth, so think about it.” He failed to rely on the partycrats who elected him speaker and offered him help... And one of the main mistakes of Shushkevich was precisely that he did not want to rely on these people, those who had managerial experience and who understood the need for change. Many of the old party members were ready to follow him and serve the cause. But Shushkevich did not want this. On the other hand, for obvious reasons, he did not want to join the right wing. And, due to his administrative inexperience, he ended up with nothing. It seemed like he didn’t rely on anyone, didn’t seem to be responsible for anything. And I couldn’t help but lose.”

Ex-deputy of the Supreme Council of the 12th convocation and member of the parliamentary opposition of the Belarusian Popular Front Valentin Golubev claims that an important reason for the resignation of the speaker was that “the political rating of S. S. Shushkevich at that time was significantly higher than the rating of V. F. Kebich. Therefore, the adoption of the new Constitution and the introduction of the post of president while retaining S. S. Shushkevich as chairman of the Supreme Council was quite risky for the nomenklatura. V. F. Kebich and his team believed that with the removal of S. S. Shushkevich from the post of chairman of the Supreme Council, their victory in the presidential elections became almost guaranteed. In addition, S.S. Shushkevich was very cautious about introducing the post of president in Belarus. He believed that Belarus should be a parliamentary republic, and the president should remain only the head of state. Thus, the position of the Chairman of the Supreme Council did not coincide with the position of V.F. Kebich’s supporters regarding the powers of the president, and this was also one of the reasons why S.S. Shushkevich lost his post.”

Participation in the 1994 presidential elections

On March 29, 1994, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus adopted the law “On the Election of the President of the Republic of Belarus”. A presidential candidate could be a citizen of the Republic of Belarus at least 35 years old, have the right to vote and have resided in the Republic of Belarus for at least 10 years. To be nominated as a presidential candidate, it was necessary to collect at least 100 thousand signatures of voters or 70 signatures of deputies of the Supreme Council. It was not prohibited for the same candidate to collect signatures of voters and deputies at the same time.

On March 30, 1994, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus adopted a resolution “On holding elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus,” according to which the election day for the President of the Republic of Belarus was set for July 23, 1994.

On April 6, 1994, the Central Commission for the Election of the President of the Republic of Belarus adopted a resolution “On the shortened time frame for carrying out some preliminary events when choosing the first President of the Republic of Belarus,” which provided for the nomination of candidates for the President of the Republic of Belarus, starting from April 25 and ending on May 14, 1994.

In the fall of 1993, on the initiative of the United Democratic Party of Belarus and the Belarusian Peasant Party, the Association of Democratic Forces “Spring-94” was created. A number of political parties, organizations and trade unions have joined this association, including the Belarusian Social Democratic Community, the Confederation of Labor and the Association of Entrepreneurs of Belarus. On February 21, 1994, the Spring-94 association held a consultation meeting, at which it was decided to support Shushkevich’s candidacy as a single opposition candidate (371,967 voter signatures were collected); Chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front party Zenon Poznyak (216,855); Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Communists of Belarus Vasily Novikov (183,836); Deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus, Director of the Gorodets state farm in Shklovsky district Alexander Lukashenko (156,391); head of the Union of Agrarians of Belarus Alexander Dubko (116 693).

On June 10, 1994, Shushkevich’s election program “Statehood, democracy, market - the path to prosperity” was published in the Respublika newspaper. The main provisions of the economic part of the program were as follows: the urgent creation of an effective financial system based on a convertible currency; maximum reduction of the tax burden to stimulate production; rapid creation of a significant non-state sector in the economy; the beginning of structural restructuring of agriculture with complete freedom to choose forms of management and ownership; maintaining and expanding sales markets and sources of resources in foreign economic activity; a decisive renewal and reduction of the power structure; implementation of a policy of urgent material assistance to the population, primarily the socially vulnerable (since 1998).

Retirement

Upon retirement, I received 3,200 Belarusian rubles per month (just over $1), which was the reason for turning to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus for an explanation. Formally, this was due to the fact that more than two years after Shushkevich resigned from the post of Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus, this position was abolished, and indexation wages for this position and the pension associated with it ceased to be provided

In 1951 he graduated from school with a medal, in 1956 – from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Belarusian State University, in 1959 – from graduate school at the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.

In 1960 - 1961 S.S. Shushkevich worked at the SKB radio plant in Minsk.

In 1961 - 1963 – Chief Engineer of the Laboratory of the Department of Nuclear Physics of the Belarusian State University.

In 1963 he defended his PhD thesis at BSU.

In 1963 - 1965 – Associate Professor of the Department of Nuclear Physics of the Belarusian State University.

In 1966 - 1970 – Vice-Rector for Scientific Work of the Minsk Radio Engineering Institute.

In 1970, S.S. Shushkevich defended his doctoral dissertation in Moscow at VNIIOFI.

Since 1971 – Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics at BSU.

In 1972 S.S. Shushkevich was awarded the title of professor.

In 1982 S.S. Shushkevich was awarded the title of Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the BSSR.

In May 1985, for a set of works on the creation and introduction into the national economy of radioscopic express methods for measuring the concentration of rare earth elements, S.S. Shushkevich, together with the staff of the department, was awarded the title of Laureate of the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR; in 1988 together with associate professor M.K. Efimchik – State Prize of the BSSR for the textbook “Fundamentals of Radio Electronics” for physics departments of universities of the USSR.

In 1986 - 1990 S.S. Shushkevich, while continuing to head the department, worked as vice-rector for scientific work at BSU.

S.S. Shushkevich trained 33 candidates of science, of whom 7 became doctors of science.

In 1989, the general meeting of BSU S.S. Shushkevich was nominated as a candidate for People's Deputies The USSR won the elections. In 1990, he was elected to the Supreme Council of the BSSR and in the same year became First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council of the BSSR. In 1991, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR.

In 1991 - 1994 S.S. Shushkevich is the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus; in 1996, he was again elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus (13th convocation).

By the time of the election of S.S. Shushkevich as head of the Department of Nuclear Physics was the largest scientific and pedagogical division of the Faculty of Physics. As when it was headed by Professor A.N. Pisarevsky continued to create new laboratories and sectors there, carrying out a large volume of research work, financed mainly on the basis of agreements with scientific research and industrial organizations of the USSR. Research orders were carried out for institutions in Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi, Vladivostok, Dushanbe, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Usolye Siberian, Rostov, Kyiv, Odessa and other cities of the Soviet Union. Teachers of the department were invited to give lectures at out-of-town and foreign universities. In particular, Professor Shushkevich gave courses of lectures on nuclear electronics and magnetic resonance spectroscopy at the University of Ljubljana (Yugoslavia), the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and three times at the University of Jena in the GDR.

The groups of employees who carried out the research consisted mainly of yesterday's BSU graduates who specialized in the department. Many of them, in fact, formed new research laboratories, closely related to the educational process at the university. They became the core of new research institutes and teaching units that emerged at BSU and at BSU, including the Research Institute of Nuclear Problems, the Department of Biophysics and the College named after Academician A.D. Sakharov.

Since the 70s, the Department of Nuclear Physics and Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy has participated in international, all-Union and republican exhibitions almost every year. For the devices developed and created by employees, medals were received at exhibitions at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements of the USSR and the BSSR, in Yugoslavia, Mongolia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Germany.

Famous scientists were invited to the department as lecturers. Among them are Academician Andrey Kapitonovich Krasin, Director of the Institute of Nuclear Energy of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR, one of the creators of the world's first nuclear power plant, Academician Mikhail Aleksandrovich Elyashevich.

The laboratory workshop of the department was systematically updated and provided not only for students of the physics department, but was the basic workshop for the faculty of advanced training for teachers of USSR universities at BSU. A regular lecturer for students of this faculty was Professor S.S. Shushkevich.